The 5-way international book collaboration is steadily moving on, and I have now completed my pages for the third of the five books. This one is from Cathe in Minnesota, and her theme is A Dog’s Life, but she has extended it to encompass all pets. I grew up with a dog, but don’t have one now, so I have reverted to when I was growing up on a farm in the UK where we were surrounded by cats which I loved. Most were wild farm cats, but there were quite a few who made themselves house cats, or who were willing to be friendly while keeping their distance from the house. I have chosen 3 of them to draw, all gingers. Orlando was named after Orlando the Marmalade Coloured Cat from a series of wonderful children’s books, Hector was a farm cat, big and tough and Albert was a sweet and gentle cat who took refuge in the house well away from the rough and tumble of the farm yard. I drew them in pen and ink, and added a watercolour wash to give a sense of nostalgia and memory.
Visit the other contributors to this project: To see the works as they progress, all of us (except Gale) are on Instagram: karenbaileystudio, cathejacobi, rebeccacaryandersonart, and me anna_warren_portfolio, Gale is at sticksstonesnpaperstew here on WordPress.
anna warren portfolio 
Beautiful cats, so lovely
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Thanks Rosie – I was very fond of all of these, but they are all long gone now. Its been nice to remember them!
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Love those!
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Thank you! Much appreciated.
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A perfect addition to the book!! I love orange cats and the way you have juxtaposed them on the page! I love how this is flowing too. I guess this one is coming my way….can’t wait!
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Thanks Rebecca! I’m very partial to them too! Yes, its on its way to you, I posted it yesterday. I sent out a group email, hopefully you will get that too!
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Fantastic illustrations. I absolutely loved the last two that cover both pages of the book!
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Thank you.
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You are welcome Anna 🙂
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Anna, I adore your cats! I too am a big fan of orange tabby cats and love them dancing across the spread. Beautifully executed and I love that you remember all these cat’s names and personalities. I’m so touched by your spread Anna, I look forward to seeing it in person! What a joy, I love your contribution!
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Thank you so much Cathe, I’m very relieved that you are happy to have the cats! They were such a big part of my young days, I do remember a great many of them. My brothers and I had a great time naming them, often with quite obscure names (more than these ones), which is why I probably remember them all! Its on its way to Rebecca now, so I’m looking forward to her contribution too!
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One aspect which unites all three of you is your sense of design. Both Cathe and Karen’s dogs are so beautifully placed on their various bedding with strong diagonals in both cases. And as for your cats, the shadow of Hector is almost a reverse mirror-image of the small grey cats on the opposite page. Your essential design, then, is a big X across the two pages; an X made up of cats.
How typical of centre-of-attention cats to make their way into a book on dogs.
Finally, each drawing is so full of love – these are all loved furry companions. They’d probably all be quite pleased with their owners for portraying them thus.
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I did place the cats carefully, but hadn’t picked up on the reflections or diagonals that you did – arranging images becomes a subconscious act over time I think. Certainly Cathe and Karen’s are beautifully positioned, they each make a really satisfying composition. Cats do push themselves in don’t they – a certain insouciance, a right be be wherever they want to!
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What a beautiful tribute to your cats. I have done portrats of my pets that have died and I love having their portraits around. I do a lot of pet portraits for others and hope that they will always remind people of their pets’ personalities.
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As I did the drawings the memories of each cat’s personality came flooding back. Drawing seems to trigger a different part of the brain. I loved doing these, it really brought them all back to me. Thanks Nancy, I always appreciate your comments!
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Lovely indeed. Seeing these artworks give me a sense of nostalgia with my dog too. Anyhow, looking forward to more of this.
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Thank you Faye, doing these drawings evoke nostalgia for me too – it’s such a pleasure working collaboratively, we each push one another on! There will be more!
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You capture animals so eloquently, Anna. Wonderful work!
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Thank you so much! I loved doing these.
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